Dictating machine



March 18, 1941. W, F FEYRER' 2,235,257

DICTATING' MACHINE v Original Filed March 25, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l Snventor Feyrer ttornegs W'lliam E 1 BY m@ 0M Y @WMO March 18, 1941. w. F. FEYRER DICTATING MACHNE 2 sheets-Sheet 2v Original Filed March' 25, 1951 4 Enventor William E Feyrer ornegs Patented Mar. 18, 1941 l UNITI-:o STATES PATENT oFFlCE DICTATING MACHINE William F. Feyrer, Norwalk, Conn., assignor to Dictaphone Corporation, New York,N. Y., a corporation of New York Original application March 25, 1931, Serial No. 525,172, now Patent No. 2,152,585, dated March 28, 1939. Divided and this application February 23, 1939, Serial No. 257,882

6 Claims. (Cl. 179-100.41)

This invention relates to phonographs and more Fig. is a view similar to Fig. 2, but shows the particularly to translation devices adapted altermodifications as in Fig. 4; nately to record and reproduce sound vibrations. Fig. 6 is a cross-section and side elevation taken In devices of this nature recording and reproone line 6 -of Figs. 4 and 5; and

5 ducing styli are frequently operatively connected Fig. 7 is a View similar to Fig. 6, but with parts to a vibratory member adapted to transmit vbraomitted and with other parts shown in section tions either for recording or reproducing, control substantially online 'l of Figs. 4 and 5. means being provided for bringing the styli se- Referring to the drawings, an electromagnetic lectively into engagement with the sound record translation unit, indicated generally by the ref- 10 tablet. When such control means is actuated erence 22, is shown mounted upon a carriage 2| 10 the active stylus is raised from the tablet and the provided with slides |63, |64 and |65 adapted to inactive stylus is lowered upon the tablet. It is be moved in a manner fully described in my well known that such a vibratory system must be above mentioned application, to shift a pair of damped to minimize distortion in recording and weight levers |35 and |36 into and out of operareproducing sound waves, and for other reasons tive relation to a record cylinder l5 when said 15 as will appear hereinafter. It is also a recognized slides are actuated by the appropriate shifting of fact in the art that it is desirable to provide a a state control lever |59, pivotally mounted upon dierent degree of damping when recording than the carriage, to condition the translation unit for when the device is used for reproducing. recording, reproducing, or to be inoperative. In

It is therefore an object of this invention to the present embodiment of the invention the com- 20 provide simple and practical means for autobined recorder and reproducer mechanism, which matically varying the degree of damping imposed .I have chosen to call a vibration translation unit, upon the system when shift is made to condition is electromagnetically operated, as will hereinthe device for recording, and vice versa. after appear. In this unit a vibratory armature is A further object is to provide simple, practical connected to transmit vibrations to or from suit- 25 and eicient means for damping a vibratory memable styli, in the one case to produce a record upon ber of the nature described and for selectively adthe record cylinder, and in the other to reproduce justing the degree of damping imposed upon such dictation or other matter previously recorded.

member under varying operating conditions. For a better understanding of this translation Other objects will be in part obvious and in part unit, reference is made to the drawings which 30 pointed out hereinafter. show the vibratory armature at |33, connected The invention accordingly consists in the feaby means of wires or rods 246 and 241 capable of tures of construction, combinations of elements transmitting vibration, to a pair of small levers and arrangements of parts as will be exemplified or stylus carriers numbered respectively |3I and in the structure to be hereinafter described and |32. Carrier |3| is provided with a recording 5 the scope of the application of which will be indistylus |33, while carrier |32 is provided with a cated in the following claims. reproducing stylus i3d.l Each of these carriers is In the accompanying drawings, in which are pvotally mounted, as shown, near the upper end shown one or more of the rvarious possible emof a weight lever numbered respectively |35 for bodiments of this invention, being a division of an the recording stylus and |36 for the reproducing 40 application filed by me on March 25, 1931, Serial stylus. No. 525,172, now Patent No.V 2,152,585, dated The carriage frame 2| is provided with two up- March 28, 1939. f wardly extending standards |31 and |38 disposed Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a combination elecin alignment near the rear upper edge of they tromagnetic recorder and reproducer; or vibraframe. A short shaft M2 is adjustably supported 45 tion translation unit, made in accordance with by said standards for rotational movement, and the present invention, the cover being cut away tightly mounted upon the left end of this shaft, as as indicated on line I in Fig. 2; viewed in Fig. 2, is the recorder weight lever |35. Fig. 2' is a rear elevation of the electric trans- As thus mounted the recorder Weight lever is free lation unit shownin Fig. 1 and shows also the to oscillate in a vertical plane toward and away 50 upper part of the carriage of the phonograph; from the record cylinder, but is incapable of Fig. 3 is a side elevation thereof partly in seclateral movement. On the other hand, the retion on line 3 of Figs. l and 2; producer weight lever |36 is mounted yupon the Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but shows cershaft |42 in such a way as not only to be capable tain modifications and additions; of rocking to and from the record cylinder, but 55 `usual or desired manner.

also to rock to a limited extent in a lateral direction, namely longitudinally of the shaft |42. This is accomplished byv providing the Weight lever |36 with a relatively long hub |43, which has a bore constricted at its center to a relatively tight fit on the shaft |42 but flaring out toward each end of the huo, as illustrated atV |44. 'I'his permits a limited lateral movement of the stylus carrier of the reproducing stylus in order that the stylus may accurately track the record while reproducing.

Lever |35 has at its lower end a suitably shaped abutment |46, and the reproducing lever |36 has Y at its lower end a suitably shaped abutment |41. Abutment |46 is adapted to cooperate with sli-de |64 and abutment |41 with slide |65 which slides, as stated above, are movable in the carriage to swing the styli away from the record or to permit their return to the record surface by swinging the weight levers about their common axis |42. The weight levers are so proportioned that, while it is necessary to push their lower ends rearwardly to raise the styli from the record cylinder, they will swing in the other direction to permit return of the styli to the record cylinder under their own weight, when the slides cooperating with the abutment ends thereof permit. It may be mentioned that in the preferred operation of applicants translation unit the recording stylus is normally biased to a position where it engages the record cylinder and the reproducing stylus to a position where it is not in engagement with the record cylinder.

The recorder-reproducer translation unit is mounted upon the carriage frame in such a manner that adverse vibration and noises are absorbed before reaching the metallic part of the mechanism, and for this purpose a rubber plate 230 is fastened to the bottom of the permanent magnet 23| by means of screws 232, and this assembly is in turn fastened to the top of the carriage frame by three screws 233, which threadedly engage carriage bosses 234 and |88.

fand 24U which extend rearwardly toward the back of the unit. Upon this offset portion 236 there is mounted a magnet coil 231 connected in the speaking circuit of the phonograph in any The magnet is provided with an armature |38 pivoted by means of a pin 238 to one pole piece 239 of the magnet and extending horizontally acrossthe space between them to a point adjacent the en-d of the other pole piece 240 of the magnet. The armature |30 is provided adjacent the pole piece 240 with a comparatively stiff flat spring 24| secured to the armature rby means of a screw 242. Two plates 243 and 244, of substantially L-shaped construction, are secured adjustably along the side of the pole piece 240 by means o-f a screw 245. A portion of each of these members is positioned in spaced relation to the spring 24|, one upon one P side, and one upon the other side thereof, as

shown in Figs. l and 4, and serves to support between itself and the spring 24|l a short section of rubber tubing or other resilient material suitable for damping vibrations of the armature. As the two plates are adjustably mounted they may be moved toward or away from the resilient member 24| in order to determine the extent of the air gap existing between the armature and the pole piece 240.

This arrangement enables the recorder and reproducer to operate either with strong or weak voice currents, and, also, this adjustment makes controllable the degree of compression under which the rubber tubing is placed so as to determine the degree of damping. If the machine is to be used by a dictator having a weak, or nonresonant, voice, the gap should be relatively small, while on the other hand, if the Voice of the dictator is strong, the gap should be relatively large. And, further, it should be understood that by increasing the compression upon the rubber tubes, the recording will be high pitched, while by decreasing the compression low pitched recording may be had.

The stylus carriers |3| and |32 are connected to the armature by suitable wires or other means 246 and 241 in such a Way as to enable the recording stylus, when it is in contact with the record cylinder, to respond to vibrations caused by voice currents acting upon the magnet and produce a mechanical record upon the record cylinder of the sound which has produced these currents. When the recorder weight lever is thrown back by movement of the slide |64so as to raise the recording stylus from the record, the carrier |3| swings around its pivot and changes its position so that it is possible to employ a fixed length of Wire to connect the said carrier with the armature. This also applies to the reproducing stylus which is adapted to track a record groove, transmit the vibrations therefrom through the wire 241 to the armature, producing vibration of the armature and changes in the reluctance ofthe magnetic circuit of the magnet. These changes in reluctance produce corresponding current changes in the speaking circuit to produce sound vibrations throughthe medium of any suitable loud speaker device, not shown, said vibrations corresponding with the sound vibrations originally recorded. A casing or cover 248 extends over the entire recording and reproducing unit and is secured to the sides of the carriage block by means of screws 340.

The unit just described, more particularly with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, does not include in its unit assembly the stylus weight levers |35 and |36, for these, as has been explained above, are mounted upon a shaft which is supported within bosses |31 and |38 of the carriage block. Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 show a modified construction in which the weight levers |35 and |36 are mounted upon centers which are carried by a bracket member 249 comprising a plate portion 250 extending across the magnet pole pieces and secured thereto by means of screws and 252,

Vand to forwardly and downwardly extending bracket arms 253 and 254 for supporting the adjustable centers |39 and |40. This construction, by removing4 the support of the stylus levers completely from the metallic body of the carriage and mounting these levers upon the magnet itself, which is resiliently supported by the carriage, provides an additional safeguard Aagainst the transmission of metallic and mechanical noises to the styli;r an-d provides a self-contained recording and reproducing unit including weight arms and stylus carriers, readily attachable to and removable from the carriage. y

In connection with the modified form there-are shown other important features, and it is to be understood that these features may be incorporated, if desired, in the .type of reproducer and recorder unit shown in Figs. 1 to 3. One of these features constitutesga device by means of which the rate at which the weight levers descend, when they are permitted to do so by the forward movement of their respective operating slides, may be controlled, and comprises adash pot 255 mounted above the magnet, in this case as an integral part of the bracket member 250. This dash pot is fastened substantially above the reproducer slide |65. Mounted to reciprocate within the dash pot is a plunger 256 having a pin 251 extending transversely across its rear end. A lever 258 is pivotally mounted upon a bushing member |45 which surrounds the center |39 and at its upper end is slotted to embrace the pin 251, while at its lower end it is slotte to embrace a pin 259 eX- tending horizontally from a portion of the left side wall of the reproducer slide |65.

The operation of this mechanism will be readily understood when it is remembered that the reproducer slide really actuates the stylus weight lever only during its movement toward the rear of the carriage, that is, when it raises the stylus from the record. When the reproducer slide moves toward the front of the carriage, the reproducer weight lever moves by gravity and unless its movement is retarded the stylus may descend upon the record cylinder with such impact as to cause considerable shock to the sensitive stylus and to cause a sharp clicking noise annoying to the operator. Although the dash pot is connected directly with the reproducer slide it will be understood that it will have the same efiect upon the recorder slide because the latter is so related to the reproducer slide as always to move with the reproducer slide simultaneously in the opposite direction thereto. The means by Which this simultaneous action of the two slides occurs is fully described in the parent application to which reference is made for further details. In effect, the dash pot retards the movement of the stylus weight levers in either direction, for in one case it retards their gravitational movement and in the other case it retards the action of resilient means, not shown, employed normally to bias the recorder slide to operative position.

Provision is further made for controlling the damping of the armature so as to produce relatively heavy damping during the recording operation and relatively light damping during the reproducing operation. The ability to change the armature from a slightly damped condition for reproducing toa highly damped condition for recording and vice versa, is highly desirable because vibrations received from the reproducing stylus are less strong than the vibrations imparted to the armature by the voice currents during. dictation. This device comprises a stud or pin 266 (see Fig. 1 and Figs. 4, 5, 6 and '7) to which pin is pivotally mounted an auxiliary damping arm 26|, the lower end' of which is pivotally motmted by means of a pin-and-slot connection to the pin 259 of the reproducer slide, the same pin to which the dash pot lever is attached. Adjacent the upper end of the arm 26| there is supported a small block of felt or rubber 262 which may be so designed in thickness as to be adapted to move into contact with the magnet armature |30. With this arrangement of parts, when the reproducer slide is in its rearward position, that iS, while the machine is conditioned for recording, the damping yblock 262 will be brought into relatively rm conta-ct with the armature |30, while, when the reproducer slide is moved forwardly of the carriage to bring the reproducing stylus into engagement with the record, the damping block 262 will be partially or entirely removed from contact with the armature, so that the damping eifect will be proportionatelylightened or completely removed.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that a at surface is provided at the extreme top end of each of the .stylus weight carriers, upon which flat surface appears an indication to enable the operator to determine which stylus is in operative relation to the record by merely glancing down at the'machine. The indications shown upon these surfaces, indicated by the numerals 263 and 264, will only appear beyond the rear edge of the cover 248 when the respective weight carriers are in their rearward position and their respective styli are operatively engaging the record. This will be clear by reference to Fig. L6 wherein the indication on the surface 263 of the reproducer weight carrier is visible, while the k surface 254 of the recorder weight lever is hidden from view.

As many possible embodiments may be made of the above invention without departing from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In a dictating machine, in combination, a vibratory armature, a stylus movably mounted adjacent said armature, means for moving said stylus into respectively operative and inoperative positions, and means responsive to movement of said stylus into operative positionfor damping the vibratory movement of said armature.

2. In a dictating machine, in combination, a vibratory armature, recording and reproducing styli movably mountedV adjacent and connected with said armature, means for moving said reproducing stylus from an operative position to an inoperative position, and simultaneously moving said recording stylus into an operative position, and means responsive to said operation vof said stylus moving means for damping the vibratory movement of said armature.

3. In a dictating machine, in combination, a vibratory armature, recording and reproducing styli movably mounted adjacent and connected with said armature, means for moving said reproducing stylus from an operative position to an inoperative position, and simultaneously moving saidrecording stylus into an operative position, andl damping means for said armature responsive to said operation of said stylus moving means for increasing the damping eiect of said damping means.

4. In a dictating machine, in combination, a

vibratory armature, a pair oi styli mounted for independent movement adjacent said armature, independent means for transmitting vibrations between said armature and each of said Styli, means for moving one of said styli from an operative to an inoperative position and simultaneously moving said other stylus to an operative position, and means for controlling the rate of change of said styli from one position to another.

5. In a dictating machine, in combination, a vibratory armature, a pair of styli mounted for independent movement adjacent said armature, independent means for transmitting vibrations between said armature and each of said styli, means for moving one of said styli from an operative to an inoperative position and simultaneously moving said other stylus to an operative position, and means for retarding the operation of said stylus moving means.

vibratory annature, independent means for transmitting vibrations Ibetween said armature and said Styli, and means on said carriage for selectively moving said styli toward said record support to an operative position.

WILLIAM F. FEYRER.

CFI 

